is running for Portland City Council.
(Photo © J. Maus)
Earlier this month I dropped by a meet and greet for City Council Candidate Mary Volm. I expected to have a quick chat and introduce myself, but as luck would have it, I was able to sit down with her for a one-on-one conversation.
For about 30-40 minutes, Ms. Volm and I discussed a number of issues including her 20-year career as a City employee (most them as spokesperson for the Bureau of Transportation), how Portland can raise new revenue for transportation (she’d like to derive some revenue from “bicyclists”), her feelings about Mayor Adams (she supported the first recall effort), the Columbia River Crossing project, and more.
We started with Bikefest — an event Volm spearheaded back in the early-mid 1990s.
What was Bikefest all about and how were you involved with it?
“It started as a way to help people consider the bicycle as a mode of transportation as opposed for just recreation. I knew people had a bike in the garage, we just wanted them to dust it off and go get a quart of milk on it. That was really the issue…we were right on the edge of non-compliance [with air quality standards] all the time and that meant we wouldn’t get federal funds for transportation.
We closed the Burnside Bridge down for the entire day — which I received death threats for — and brought out a band and invited every bike vendor and store. We drew 10,000 people. The idea was just to get people more comfortable using their bikes. We started it from that perspective; not from ‘Hey, let’s promote bicycles aren’t they cool?!’ It was a very important component to reducing car traffic”
Given all of your experience in PBOT, the seat you’re running for isn’t in charge of the transportation bureau (Mayor Adams has it currently)…
“Well, I’m certainly going to ask for it after 20 years in transportation! I know it like the back of my hand and even if I don’t get it it doesn’t take away my interest in it.”
Have you thought about what bureaus you might have and how you could bring bike issues into the fold? Like the Police Bureau for instance (currently overseen by Commissioner Saltzman, who Volm is running against)?
“The Police Bureau wouldn’t go to one of the new people on council*. To me, it’s inappropriate that the Mayor doesn’t have it to begin with [the Mayor usually manages the Police Bureau. Adams is only the third Mayor in Portland history to give the bureau to someone else].
The Mayor makes the decisions about bureaus… I have no idea what bureaus I would receive, but it’s rooted in me [Volm shared that she’s been to Amsterdam 14 times]. Transportation goes through my blood so I look at things from that perspective.”
[*Note: The City Charter does not preclude a rookie Commissioner from being assinged the police bureau, but it’s true that if someone does unseat Saltzman, pressure could grow on Mayor Adams to take it back (Commissioners Amanda Fritz and Nick Fish are also rookies and Randy Leonard has said he doesn’t want it).]
If you did have transportation… What are some things you might be doing to increase cycling?
“Well, I’d have to look really closely at the Master Plan… We’ve picked the low-hanging fruit… Over the last decade or two we’ve been able to get those that already have an interest in riding, so now, how do we make it more easy.”
What do you think of the trajectory of biking in Portland since the mid-90s?
“It’s amazing isn’t it!? I have a big smile on my face. Well there’s always more work to do but nobody thought we could make it happen. I was laughed at when I came up Bikefest. I feel pretty vindicated that it was a good idea and it moved us in that direction.
But I think we have to look at the big picture — it’s not just bikes that are going to save Portland, we can’t build our way out of congestion (nor would we want to), so how else do we move about efficiently? So that includes streetcar light-rail, high-speed transit, good bus service, hybrid and electric cars and smaller vehicles like the Smart car. I saw one 15 years ago in Paris for the first time and said, ‘I want one of these!’ I don’t know what it is about Americans and their gluttonous attitude for bigger is better… but I just thought that was the coolest car I’d ever seen.
The point is that not everyone is going to ride a bike, not everyone is capable of walking long distances [Volm hasn’t been able to ride for three years due to health issues], so we need to make sure that all generations and all socio-economic classes have access to transportation in Portland because that’s your means to get goods and services, to get to your job, or to get to your medical or social services you need. So I would back up and say, ‘How can make sure everyone has an efficient way to move around the city?'”
The other issue is transportation funding; how do we continue to expand our bicycle infrastructure when our resources are diminishing? I know that issue inside and out so we need to be very creative in terms of looking at ways to fund new infrastructure.”
Do you have some ideas as to how to do that?
[She first debunked the efficacy of the gas tax, saying that cars are now more fuel-efficient and that the gas tax has not proved to be an effective funding mechanism.]
“I think we need a more equitable way to pay for transportation services. You could be an avid bicyclist and yes, you’re doing a great thing for our city, but there has to be a way that we can collect a little revenue from that portion of the traveling public so that we can increase the resources. Otherwise, as the resources drop, you’re going to get the truckers against the bicyclists and I’ve watched for years how drivers and cyclists have been at odds with each other and I think there needs to be some recognition on the bicyclists part of, ‘How do I help in this bigger picture so that drivers quit taking it out on bicyclists?’ Some small way that we can say, here’s how cyclists are contributing to the infrastructure they use.
I know that your impact is much less and you’re doing a great thing, but I also think that there’s still this big chasm between drivers and cyclists that really makes the public right of way unsafe for everyone. It is a huge issue… It may not be the best way to raise revenue but something symbolic needs to happen in order for everyone to get along a little better and support each other.
We need to start building bridges between the different options now, as opposed to ‘I’m better than you because I cycle and you’re driving your big gas-guzzling SUV’ … Something small that says, we care about our transportation system, we use it too, we need to participate in some minor way that shows we care.”
Would you be supportive of pricing vehicle trips to help pay for infrastructure?
“Absolutely. I’ve always been in favor of congestion pricing and tolls… If you use your car at a certain time the cost goes up, maybe that would help employers think about staggered hours or other things.”
What about I-5 between Oregon and Washington?
“I think there needs to be some improvement across the Columbia for I-5. Any kind of improvement has to include transit and bikes and pedestrians. There is a benefit of moving forward with it [the Columbia River Crossing project]. I certainly don’t agree with the lanes and I’ve watched for decades — if you build it they will fill it. You give people the option to drive and they will.”
So, do you think Portland leadership should have been more strongly opposed to the CRC project?
“I think they’ve been flip-flopping quite frankly, and I think that sends the wrong message to everyone at the table. I think you have to come to a table like that with an ability to listen and compromise and work with each other to come up with the best solution for all. To draw a line in the sand and put your hands on your hips means nothing, you’re never going to come to agreement and you end up making enemies… So I guess I would have approached it differently as a leader.
I would have gone in — certainly with the intention of protecting Portland because everybody still drives across our back — but working with our partners so that we can get some of the things that we truly care about. It’s always a compromise, it’s always a negotiation, and the best thing to do is communicate around those issues and listen.”
How will your support of an effort to recall Mayor Adams impact your ability to work with him on council on these big issues?
“I was one of his go-to girls on his staff; he used to be one of my dearest friends. I can work with Sam. I’ve proven that. If there’s a good idea that’s in the best interest of the city, you’re going to see me support anything he talks about.
But I also come with my own set of experiences and wisdom and I’m not afraid to speak up. It’s not personal, this is about the city I’ve lived in since I was born and I care about it that much and I’ve put blood sweat and tears into so many things that I’m not going to compromise my ability to lead just because I didn’t agree with him lying and admitting that he lied to get elected. That’s up to the citizens as to whether or not they want to keep him, it’s not just up to me.
I felt personally we should have had the opportunity to vote and I think it would have been in Sam’s best interest and actually in his best interest for future ability to lead to be able to say, ‘I’ll resign and then I will put my name on the ballot again’. You have a contract with the people that put you there and people aren’t getting over it. There’s half of the population that still wants to hold him accountable and half that says, ‘Oh, forget about it. Just let it go’. Well, that’s a city divided. The GLBT community is divided; the bicycle community is divided; small businesses are divided. Just like James Chasse, we should have healed that a long time ago so that we can move on and make better decisions from here on out, and it’s not personal it’s really about the community at large.
As a leader, I wouldn’t have found myself in that situation (that’s not how I roll), but you don’t destroy people that were your friends, you don’t hurt people along the way, and you don’t lie because you want to have a job.
It was more about citizens having the right to say, ‘OK, now that I know what I know, this is the way that I feel’. I mean, he was the great gay hope… I mean, I have great gay friends. I was so excited and I did vote for him when he ran for Commissioner…”
What about when he ran for Mayor? Did you vote for him?
“No I did not.”
Why not?
“Because… I think in watching him in the four years [as commissioner] he calls himself a wonk but he wasn’t very wonky, he was more about getting himself attention so he could run [for Mayor]. Do your job was my point on that. Do your job Sam! You know, you have a job to do, so quit thinking about how you’re going to look.
Having an up close and personal relationship with Sam for years when he was Chief of Staff [to former mayor Vera Katz], I saw a big change in him when he got power and I saw a lot of people hurt by him that I have great respect for in this city… and top of the line technical people and engineers who just didn’t appreciate how he treated the employees. That’s the city’s biggest resource by the way; the employees… And you should treat them well.”
How do you think your former colleagues and employees at the city felt about you as a spokesperson?
“I’m a go getter. The thing about being a communications director is the proof was in the pudding. I had to win over everybody as I moved forward. Whether they liked me personally or not, that’s not the issue. Did I do what I was asked to do and did I do it really well? Yes I did.”
Earlier in our conversation, you said you were “rooted” in transportation. Why is transportation such a big thing for you?
“It’s the foundational piece. Economic development is based in it, land-use planning, neighborhood livability. Everything that I really do care about has a transportation link.”
What about your personal background. Where do you live?
“I’ve lived in SE Portland for 20 years, two blocks down from the (Mt. Tabor) reservoir off of Hawthorne in a little baby bungalow house (that I’ll proabably die in because I’ve put so much energy into my art studio.”
You do art?
“Yes, I’m an artist. I work in fused glass and kiln-cast glass. I show at Talisman Gallery on Alberta. I’ve been a photographer for 37 years, and I’m a painter too… anything I can get my hands on.”
What about school/college?
“I have degree in Social Psychology from PSU and a television production degree from Mt. Hood Community College.”
How are you feeling about the race?
“Public financing is challenging… but I’m having a blast. Somebody gave me the best advice early on: Focus on the next signature. Period. Don’t focus on where you come from or where you’ve been. That can be discouraging and overwhelming. Just focus on your next signature and have great conversations with people.”
Volm has until this Friday to collect the 1,000 signatures and $5 donations it takes to qualify for public campaign financing. Learn more about her at MaryVolmforPortland.com and don’t miss the Portland Mercury/Bus Project Candidate Olympiad event where Volm and all the other candidates will be asked more questions about bikes, transportation, and other issues.